Star and Moon and the Forces of Evil
by Professor Oswin
Summary: After the battle with Meteora, Star is trying to find a foothold in her life. Everything she thought she knew isn’t true anymore. And now with Moon’s return, her life has gotten more complicated, not to mention an old foe that’s returned to Mewni.
1. Moon

"Star? I'm going to go with Tom to train in the underworld," Marco poked his head into the throne room's balcony where Star had been spending the past few weeks staring at the kingdom below.

No response came from the former royal princess of Mewni. She just sat there, unfazed, even by the cold breeze brush by. Her hair just moved along with the wind. That was the only movement on her behalf. For a while Marco just stared at her, not knowing what to do nor what to say.

Star just shrank as she curled up into a ball and hugged herself. Her form heaved a bit as she began to sob.

"It's okay, Star. You'll find her one day. And I'll always be available to help you, even Tom promised," Marco sank down beside Star to try and comfort her.

He barely laid a hand on her shoulder when she buried her head into his sweater and wrapped her arms around her best friend.

"You've been the greatest help to me these past weeks, Marco Diaz. I don't know what I would do without you," her outburst made him blush.

"If-if you want I won't go to the underworld. I can" –Marco's face lit up like a firefly as he cleared his throat to suggest the next thing– "I could stay here with you."

Star stopped crying at the suggestion but couldn't stop sniffling.

"I, uh, I appreciate the thought, Marco. But, you have to go. You love training, and right now we don't have a way to find Mom. So you have to go train. For yourself, and just in case we need that training in the future," she offered a sad smile to Marco which he returned.

"I guess this is goodbye for now then. Right?" Marco's eyes watered.

"You can still visit whenever you want to. It's not like Tom will have you trapped in there."

With a nod, Marco gave her a tight hug before heading out of the balcony and out of her sight. He was off to another world, like always, but this time it was without his best friend. She too would have to deal with having two absent people in her life. Her best friend and her mother.

She slid back to the floor. The recent defeat she suffered was too much for her to cope with. Though she tried to be strong in front of others. Something she failed to do right now. She knew that Tom offered Marco a chance to train in the demon arts with him and she didn't like what she heard. But she couldn't be selfish right now. Her selfishness had caused her to almost lose her kingdom.

She let her emotions cloud her decision when trying to decide whether to rescue her mother or defend the kingdom from Meteora. Because she chose to go after her mom instead of Meteora, the kingdom was almost levelled to the ground. And all of its inhabitants had been drained.

Her butterfly form had been sacrificed to try and defeat the monster Meteora had become. And with it her identity. She was no longer the legitimate ruler of Mewni. She didn't know where her mom ended up. And she was useless in the reconstruction of her kingdom. She didn't know what to do anymore.

The chiming of the royal doorbell snapped Star from her wallowing.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

The ringing of the doorbell that Marco convinced my dad to install into the palace broke me from my thoughts.

Who could that even be? Everyone was busy rebuilding the houses that were destroyed in the battle against Meteora right now. No one even wanted to look at this place. It was still half constructed and looked ugly, even compared to the former shacks that surrounded it before the disaster.

With a groan, I picked myself up and made my way downstairs to the primary throne room as my shoes squeaked against the polished floor. I had no clue why this place even needed a throne room anymore, let alone a secondary one. But the High Commision had very weird interests. Especially Rhombulus. I had no clue what that guy even thought about half the time. Nor did I want to know after finding out he had a crush on my Mom.

The trek down the steps was a bit longer than I remembered. Though it might have something to do with the fact that I hadn't used them in a week now. I've spent most of my time upstairs in the balcony or blasting a random door to my room in an attempt to keep practising wandless magic.

So far that only included materializing puppies, nachos, and my room. I couldn't summon Spider in a top hat, Cloudy, All Seeing Eye, nor a simple Narwhal blast. Sometimes I found myself thinking that giving Eclipsa the wand was a bad idea, especially since she just took it and ran off. But it was her right to have it. It didn't belong to me or any of the Butterflies after her. It was the right thing and the least I could do after all the wrong that was done to her.

I finally made it to the door and opened it.

"Who are you?" in front of me was a strange girl about my age looking at me confused.

"Who are you?" I echoed back in confusion.

She looked familiar. Her hair was blue and was styled back with 2 strands hanging loosely in front and her bangs hung high above her eyes. But it was the marks on her cheeks that gave it away. Two diamonds, the same shape as my moms, decorated her cheeks.

"Mom?" my jaw dropped.

I'd spent the first week after Meteora looking for my mom everywhere I could. The swamp, every cottage, monster village, Ludo's former castle, Buff frog's home, other kingdoms, even the underworld. But I was never able to find her. Now she just came strolling to the front door of the palace!?! My eye twitched slightly at all that.

"Why are you so young?" I asked.

"Uh, what are you talking about?" my mom's accent had become a bit sharper than it usually was. "And who are you? What are you doing in my home? And why do you have Butterfly marks?"

"Mom. Don't you remember me?" something must've happened to make her unable to recognize me. Maybe she bonked her head on a tree, or worse, she spent too much time in the Magical Dimension.

"Stop calling me that. My name is Moon Butterfly, defeater of Toffee and the Septarian race. I am Moon the Conqueror of Monsters," either I imagined it or when she announced her name lightning cracked across the sky.

"More like Moon the Undaunted," I giggled.

I surprised myself, I hadn't laughed or even giggled in a long time.

"What?" she wasn't getting anything.

I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her over to the grand hall where all the Tapestries were on display. A crash course on all of them was found necessary in order to get to her Tapestry. Thankfully, I had brushed up on the history of Mewni's rulers after finding out that I wasn't a true Butterfly. Then we arrived at her Tapestry. I always thought it was an awesome tapestry of my mom that showed her victory against the Septarian army. I never would've thought that I would be able to do something so amazing as that, but now I've faced off against and defeated Toffee and fought Meteora.

Though I don't count them as wins since I defeated Toffee while I was unconscious and Eclipsa was the one to defeat Meteora, I just saved her from being entirely neutralized by one of Eclipsa's dark spells.

"That's me?" my mom asked as she read the name under the Tapestry. "But, I'm not a queen. Not yet anyway. I still haven't accepted the coronation." My mom's head lowered in shame.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" I realized.

She raised her eyes up to me, "No, I don't."


	2. The Wand (Revised)

**Theme Song**

"You don't remember anything at all?"

"I've already told you, Hekapoo. I don't remember anything else. I just woke up in a swamp and tried to get back to the castle. The last thing I remember was defeating Toffee and going to the Sanctuary to clear my thoughts. I've got no idea what is happening right now," Moon looked fearfully at the High Commision.

Star couldn't help herself as she kept shooting looks of disgust at the people trying to help her mom. She didn't trust them at all. How could she after they kept up a lie of the Royal Butterfly family for Generations? Moon had to know about them later, but not right now. She had to respect Moon's decision to have the High Commision help her. Especially since both of them knew nothing of the magic the new Magic Realm produced.

"We don't really know what happened to you, but I have a theory," Omnitraxus began. "You underwent the same thing that Meteora did…"

"Uh, who's Meteora?" Moon asked cocking her head to the left in confusion. Of course, she's never heard of Meteora, that happened later in her life and with her memories gone she would have no clue what had happened recently.

So after a quick briefing of the events that passed, while leaving out the whole Queen Eclipsa part, Omnitraxus was able to continue his theory.

"The corruption mixed with the pure magic of the new Magic Realm" –Moon had no clue what the new Magic Realm was either but decided to keep quiet out of respect instead of interrupting once more– "And because of them mixing with each other. It created a, uh. An effect? Yeah, an effect that reversed your age. Agh, Lekmet or Glossaryck would have been able to explain it better." The snowglobe that Omnitraxus was in showed the skulled face try to cover himself in embarrassment.

"Where is Glossaryck?" Moon asked looking around for the little blue guy.

"Uh, long story. First, we need to find a way to get you back to normal. Luckily, I know a guy who can help us find someone. Except he's in the underworld," Star said in disappointment.

Even though her current boyfriend, Tom Lucitor, was the prince of the underworld. It didn't give her a free pass there. There were monster and demon guards at the only entrance available to Mewmens. The only way in would be to fight. Or use dimensional scissors. Except she didn't have any. Hekapoo had taken back the scissors that Pony head stole.

"I wouldn't want to go there anyway. If what you say is true and I'm Queen Moon, then I don't want anyone to know about my current condition. It'll make the kingdom look weak without a ruler, especially if it's in the hands of a child," Moon narrowed her eyes at Star specifically.

"Then you can pose as Star's twin sister. Both of you are the same age physically. Though mentally you could be older than Star," Hekapoo remarked much to the annoyance of the princess. "And you both look alike."

Despite the jab at Star, the Princess jumped at the joy of having a sister. It was unheard of in Mewni's history, but it wasn't impossible. And it would also give her someone to connect with in the meantime.

"I've never had a sister before! This'll be amazing!" Star sang as she embraced Moon.

For a moment she was the same girl that had been to earth before all the events that forced her to change into the girl she was now. Too bad the joy and excitement that she felt wasn't reciprocated back.

Instead, Moon just muttered under her breath unamused, "This is a bad idea," as she tried to escape the grasp of Star's death grip she locked her in.

"I still need to breathe you know," Moon gasped.

"I really like your accent. It's a lot more obvious than when you were older," Star laughed.

The door to the throne room creaked open as Foolduke appeared at the door.

"Uh, guys. River is here and wanted me to alert the High Commisi… wait is that Queen Moon?" the girl asked as she noticed the young blue haired princess.

Everyone just stared at her with a blank expression.

"Rhombulus will fix this!" The dimwitted member of the High Commision exclaimed as he zapped the Jester and crystallized her.

"NO!!" the two princesses screamed in unison as Rhombulus rushed to a lever hidden behind a curtain and pulled it to make the crystal carrying Foolduke disappear into the floor.

"Rhombulus what did you do?" Star demanded as she let go of Moon.

"Rhombulus. Go to the Time out Corner," Hekapoo ordered.

The snake handed man obliged but not without protest.

After the moment passed a serious expression spread through Moon's face.

"I'm going to need the wand," she extended her hand.

"Uh, the. The wand?" Star nervously began to smile as she fidgeted with her fingers.

Everyone in the room grew uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was leading into. So they tried to drive it another way instead.

"No. I want to know what happened to the wand. Now."

"I gave it to Eclipsa."

Moon's eyes widened in horror at the mention of that name, "Eclipsa!? How could you give it to her!? She's the Queen of Darkness! She shouldn't have the wand. How could you? And how in Mewni did she escape?"

"She's not the person you think she is. And she was freed from the crystal when I destroyed Toffee."

"But you don't have these," Moon raised her hand to show the purple veins of dark magic that were etched permanently in her skin.

Hekapoo and Omnitraxus looked in disgust while Rhombulus just continued to stare dreamily at Moon. The other two were still uncomfortable with the presence of Dark Magic in the system of a royal ruler which is why they convinced Moon to wear gloves when she was older.

"Yeah, uh can you hide that please?" Hekapoo asked without a regard to what the others would think of such an inappropriate request.

"I used my butterfly form to kill Toffee. And I also thought that the wand should go to the rightful ruler of Mewni. I just didn't expect her to disappear with Meteora," Star explained.

"I'm not sure that would be enough to kill Toffee. He's a Septarian, they can heal from anything except magic. But maybe pure magic was enough to kill him. I don't care enough to worry about that right now. But how am I going to be able to do magic? Are you able to do magic without the wand? We should take it back from Eclipsa. Actually we should go to her right now," Moon began to get wracked by the nerves.

Concentrating on one thing was starting to turn into a difficult task for her. But with the help of Star, she was able to calm down a little bit.

"The final blast of magic I gave Meteora kind of drained me. I can't turn into my butterfly form or perform magic correctly. The most I can do is this," Star focused her hand to the floor and a yellow beam of light hit the target materializing a puppy.

"What is that?" Moon asked.

"It's a puppy. Isn't he cute?"

The blue haired girl yelped as she narrowly dodged a laser beam the puppy shot out before scampering out of the throne room.

"You, are very dangerous. With magic," Moon stated as her gaze remained on the door where the strange creature had disappeared.

"Like I said. I can't really control magic. I'm still recovering."

"I can actually help with that," Omnitraxus offered, "You can go to the Sanctuary to shower yourself in magic. That'll speed up your recovery and give you access to magic once more. As for you Moon. There is another wand. One that is just as powerful as the Butterfly wand. But it's hidden in a forbidden place. The Forbidden Cave of Magic," Omnitraxus emphasized the name.

"Good to know. But where is it?" Moon asked.

"I know where it is," Hekapoo answered by snapping her fingers and materializing a portal beneath the princess's feet.

"Hey. What did you do that for? How am I supposed to help her now?" Star protested.

"You don't." Hekapoo smiled and created another portal under Star this time.

 **=Star=**

I was already familiar with how portals work. But that didn't stop me from screaming in surprise as I fell through the portal Hekapoo created. I don't know what Marco saw in her. He seemed to enjoy spending more time with her than with me. I didn't trust her at all. She was just a good for nothing Liar.

Her portals took longer to spit you out. I spent several seconds in a swirl of blue. From what I could tell, the portals that Hekapoo was able to create without scissors always looked the same and were never instant like the ones that I was able to create in my butterfly form or with scissors. Must've been because she was a show off. Though she didn't create them without her scissors much.

But I was glad when I finally managed to land on my feet in the Sanctuary that was now familiar to me. The smell was different compared to the last time when I came here. It had a sharp sweet smell. Almost like the Tarts that Mrs Diaz made once for the school bake sale.

"Mmmm. Delicious," I giggled.

Now that Mom, I mean, my sister, was back. I was able to be myself once again. I still felt bad but it wasn't as extreme as it was a while ago.

Before I would just have to turn the wheel to turn on the drain so the magic can drop down. It was such a waste of magic since I couldn't control the flow of the other drains. They were all controlled by one wheel. It was such a flaw in the design that Marco would surely disagree with. Oh well. I wasn't going to be the one to build it. I was going to be the one to use it.

Though now, the entire Sanctuary was covered in the golden goop of magic. So all I had to do was go over to where it was all concentrated and lay down. I didn't know for how long. Maybe for a few minutes? A few hours?

I shuddered as the golden goop slathered over me as I set myself down in the middle. It was cold and slimy. Almost identical to the bath of slime that Marco made for me back on earth. Oh so many adventures and interesting things did the Earth give me. I would have to make sure to pay it a visit later.

My hair went from its usual voluminous bush to being slicked down and sticking to my dress.

"Mmmm"

I took off my shoes and socks and squished the goop in between my toes, it was just so fun that I couldn't resist myself. The golden goop that surrounded me glowed a bit as I swished around. But nothing else was happening.

"Well, this was a bust," I said after a few minutes of nothing.

I was about to get up when the entire place began to shake.

"Whoa. This is just like when Glossaryck came back." I fell back down to the floor in hopes of waiting it out. "What is going on?"

A beam of light shot out, from the spot I was lying in, to the sky. I wiggled a bit as I began to float trying to stay upward.

I could feel wings sprout out from my back and several extra sets of arms pop out of my sides. "Butterfly Form."

The rumbling slowly stopped as the light vanished.

I was left floating high above the tiny pool of magic. I tested out my wings a bit by flying up and down and side to side. I was no longer wearing the same golden clothes that usually appeared when I entered this form. Instead, I wore the regular clothes that I had which was strange. My wings had also changed. They were no longer the same golden wings, now the edges were lined with a glowing blue color. Like the Earth's sky.

"This is awesome," I laughed with glee.

I hardened my expression, "Time to go help my mother. Or sister. Or whatever she is now."

 **=Moon=**

I turned another corner, I think, as I listened to the drips of water from the cave. I couldn't tell where I was even going. The cave's darkness didn't allow me to see a thing. All I had to go off of were the sounds of the dripping water. Which I guess wasn't really much.

"Why didn't Star come with me? I have no ability to make magic. I should've listened to Glossaryck and learned a simple illumination spell without the wand," I sighed.

"You should've. But you didn't. This is the price you pay for it. Great now I'm talking to myself. You're going to go crazy before you find that wand Moon. Oof!" I moaned as I crashed into a wall.

It must've been a corner. Running my hand against the wall beside me did nothing against corners. Those things were the worst things to keep track of in a dark cave.

I rubbed my nose and placed my hand against the wall to keep going.

The sound of a portal opening nearly made me jump out of my skin. I turned around and it turned out to be Star, she was in a butterfly form casting a golden glow. I wonder if I would ever learn how to do that then I remembered that I already do, except that it is my older version that knows how to do that. If me giving Star the wand was a hint to that.

"Whoa. That's cool."

"I know right?" Star gave a little twirl.

Now that Star's Golden Glow chased away the darkness, we could navigate the cave a lot better and easier. This gave us the chance to arrive at the wand a lot faster.

After several twists and turns, Star managed to fly us quickly into an open part of the cave. I'm pretty sure that there were traps along the way the closer we got to the wand. But because Star used her wings to carry us, none of them were triggered. It was pretty convenient.

Dust was sent up into the air as Star dropped me and I rolled to a stop. My dress helped absorb the majority of the impact letting me get up without hesitation.

Right smack in the middle there was a giant wand. Behind it were small mounds of what looked like sand and dust. The wand was plain. A Grey stone on top of a stone pillar. I'd never seen anything like it. And judging by Star's expression I'd say that she hasn't either.

"That looks weird." She observed.

She motioned to the wand with her hand offering me the chance to pick it up.

The pillar vibrated under my touch and began to glow and shrink. It was slower than the Butterfly wand. I guess it was because it wasn't used at all in all of its existence.

A blast of green light blinded me and a strong force knocked the wand out of my grasp while it was still changing form.

"Hello, Star. And her new friend," said a shrill voice.

"Ludo." Star answered with contempt.

Out of the shadows stepped a little green bird man. In his hands was another wand. This one was in the shape of a piece of flint being held by a skeletal hand. The crystal in the middle was in the shape of a jagged piece of a broken green emerald.

"That's. That's the wand of evil. How did you get that?" The last time I'd ever seen such a thing was in a tall tale. A legend of the armies of Jartor. A demon who was banished from the realms and swore revenge.

"This little thing?" Ludo chuckled "It was among the many wands in here. Which I destroyed," he cackled his answer to my question.

He motioned towards the piles of dust that were against the walls.

"Oh, no," Star realized at the same time it clicked in for me. "All of those piles of ash are dust? What have you done, Ludo?"

I took the opportunity of his distraction to dive for my new wand. Before I could reach it another blast of green shook it and made it explode sending me flying back.

"Unicorn throw pillow!" A golden cushion materialized beneath me before I could crash on the cold cave floor.

Several rocks of debris landed beside me. The wand was gone. Ludo had destroyed them all. None were left. Except for the one he had. But even if we could get our hands on it. It would have to be destroyed. If the legends were true, then it was the most dangerous item in all of Mewni. And if it wasn't destroyed. All of Mewni would remain in peril.

"How could you do that Ludo? Those wands have living things in them. And you killed them. I thought you were better than this," I watched Star argue weakly. There was nothing I could do right now. It made me feel useless.

"You were wrong Star Butterfly. After some soul searching. Which you and my brother Dennis so kindly provided. I found my true calling in life. To rule Mewni and return the monster population back to the top where we rightfully belong," Ludo's brows furrowed as he brought his wand in front of him and fired a ray of green.

Star raised her arms and met Ludo's attack with six beams of gold light.

Green and Golden magic washed over the entirety of the cave as they struggled to dominate each other. They met perfectly in the middle dividing their glow. Excess magic splashed outward creating puddles of green and gold.

I could do nothing else other than watch helplessly. But then an idea came to me. I crawled around the cushion searching for something. My hand brushed against something. I picked up a big shard of the broken wand and threw it at Ludo.

Ludo turned towards me shining blank eyes without pupils. He directed the connection of the two rays fighting each other for dominance to the front of him. The shard hit the middle of them and remained inside of a few moments before bouncing out and hitting me in the chest. Thankfully my armor protected me from the worst of the blow but Ludo had used the change of stance to his advantage and raised his wand in front of him and fired another ray of green magic at Star who just gawked in surprise.

"Nooo!" I screamed as I watched Star collapse exiting her butterfly form.

Now the only source of light came from Ludo's wand making the cave seem sinister under the soft green glow.

In a blind fury, I picked up the shard that hit me and opened my mouth. "Cataclysmic Butterfly!" I don't know where the spell came from. I've never heard it before in my life. But I did know that what came next was a giant Blue Butterfly exiting the shard that was now glowing itself. Ludo's eyes widened and he stopped his victory laugh as it crashed upon him creating a miniature contained explosion creating a hole in the wall revealing the night sky. The bird man screamed in pain as he used the wand to get away into the night.

I dropped to the floor exhausted and drained and welcomed the darkness.

"Darling? Moon! Are you okay?!" I opened my eyes slowly at the mention of my name.

I closed my eyes as soon as the light began to hurt them. Carefully I squinted and forced my eyes to adjust to the bright lighting. The familiarity of the throne room of the High Commission greeted me. Across from me I saw Star being bandaged by Rhombulus. She was glaring at him, but at least she was letting him help her.

Next to me was River looking at me with a worried expression. But it wasn't the River I knew. This River was much older from the cute prince that was usually in the meeting room. He had a golden beard and a mustache. His choice of garment hasn't really changed much. He a bit taller, but not by much, and he was a bit thicker too. And he had a crown.

"River?"

"Oh, you're okay!" he said with glee. "I was so worried darling. The High Commission told me what happened and where you went. I wanted to go help you, but Hekapoo wouldn't tell me where exactly she sent you."

"Dad. Leave mom alone. She's supposed to be my sister now any way. Remember?" Star said.

"Wait. Dad? I. Your? What?" – I turned to Omnitraxus whose crystal ball was settled on the desk next to me – "You actually let me marry, River?" I asked in surprise.

"I uh – it was Lekmet's idea," Omnitraxus defended himself.

"You let a goat make that decision?!"

"Is– Are you disappointed dear?" Tears began to form in his eyes.

"I, no. No. Not at all. It's just that, no offense, but your kind… eh –aren't the most suited to lead a kingdom like mine," I tried to explain.

"Yeah you're right. In the times you've left me in charge I wasn't able to handle the kingdom properly," he sighed. "But now I can do better. You can trust me to take care of the kingdom." River tore of his clothes revealing underwear made of grass and leaves before jumping out of the window wailing and onto an eagle of war leaving me speechless.

"So was your mission successful?" Hekapoo interrupted my feelings of doom.

"Yeah. I mean, we haven't seen a wand in your possession, Princes Moon," Omni chimed in.

"No. A little green bird man destroyed it. But I have this," I revealed the gemstone shard from the broken wand. A pulsing glow emanated from it.

"That's a magic Crystal infused with calcified magic. The very thing that the royal wand is made of." Omni observed.

"Can you turn this into a wand?" I asked.

"Not us. Maybe Glossy. But we aren't able to do that, sorry," everyone agreed with Rhombulus.

"Maybe not you guys. But I've studied Mewman magic and I can help."

"Toffee!" The Lizard General I defeated was standing at the entrance of the room. He was complete, mostly. The finger I incinerated with dark magic was back. But his face. If I weren't intimidated by him, I would've laughed at the baby face he had. He must be in his regeneration process. I knew he wasn't dead.

"Crystallization!" Rhombulus blasted Toffee's feet before being knocked out by a knife Toffee threw at him.

"I'm not here to fight, I'm here to offer my services."

 **She's a princess winning battles**

 **Through the break of dawn**

 **Don't worry when it's night,**

 **'Cause she will keep the lights on!**

 **Ohhhh, there goes a shining star!**

 **Evil won't deter her**

 **'Cause magic flows through her**

 **She is a shining star!**


	3. Toffee

**Summary: Star and Moon learn of how Toffee survived.**

The ground shook making rubble come tumbling down from the ruins of the former castle. Toffee kept on walking ignoring everything. It was of no interest to him. He had more important things to attend to. Especially more important than a mere quake. Besides, nothing could faze him now that he added another Butterfly royal to his kill count.

Moon and Marco though looked at the wand as it floated out of Moon's hand and went upward into the sky where it shattered in their horror.

Gold goop began to leak out of the remaining shards of crystal. The liquid then began to regenerate and pieced an entirely new wand back together again. The slime continued to keep leaking out to form hands that were grabbing the base and extended outward where they reconstituted into the basics of a simple body. Then the details came. Seams and lines of clothes made themselves noticeable. Hair poofed up on the back. Two Hearts formed an outline where the cheeks were as teeth and eyes formed. 2 extra set of arms appeared as soon as Star finally regenerated. And then wings grew out of her back as her hair styled themselves into a type of antennae. The light finally disappeared and allowed her to be seen without a struggle.

Moon and Marco cried out in happiness as they saw the princess they thought as dead come back. She greeted them but her voice was different and unsettled them both. Star then proceeded to head to Toffee who was now out of the cratered ruins.

 **"Where are you going so fast, Toffee?"**

The voice both surprised and irritated Toffee. He spun around to face the newly reformed Princess of Mewni. She just couldn't stay dead. The magic realm he trapped her in was supposed to corrupt and destroy her, not supercharge her. This was going to be a problem. Setbacks were already foreseen. But he had to get to where he needed to be as soon as he could.

With a growl, he charged at Star. She extended her hand and shot a beam out of her palm. A guttural scream pierced the air as the beam slowly incinerated The Lizard general. Making him feel and suffer everything the magic did to his body.

Once the beam was gone, the lizard continued to stand. Well more like crawl.

"You really think you can kill a Septarian? Defeat their general? I'm the chess master. You can't defeat me. I plan for contingencies like these. I haven't remained the leader of my race for centuries for being nothing," he laughed.

His body was falling apart and he couldn't think clearly. Parts of his mind were gone, reduced to goop just like the rest of his body. But he was still trying to hang on. The insanity crawling over his mind and threatening to take control ebbed his cognition though. Septarians still needed a brain to function after all.

A gooed, tar hand raised up trying to reach Star. An eyeball was threatening to fall out of its socket creeping everyone out. Toffee just wasn't a pretty sight.

A marble column suddenly fell on top of the abomination crushing him. Out of the back, Ludo crawled out and started kicking the goop that remained.

"Take that. You stupid lizard. Who's better now, jerk." Ludo picked up a remaining eye and squeezed it to the dismay of the Butterflies and Marco.

Several months passed after the defeat of Toffee. The castle was rebuilt to be identical to how it was before and stood standing in all of its gloriousness to await its future destruction in the battle against Meteora. That structure had terrible luck. Being destroyed every year was going to be bad for its design.

Beneath the foundations of the building a terrible smell emanated. It could have been from the laundry room where Sir Lavabo worked in. But it wasn't the regular smell of unwashed clothes and dead Nuri-Raccoons that were scavenging the depths of the castle for food.

Instead, it came from a puddle of black tar that grew in size slowly. It was from a drop of Toffee's tar that the cleaning crew forgot to clean up. It had slowly seeped into the cracks of the castle floors making its way to the darkest place of the dungeon where it could regenerate in peace undisturbed. Where no one could smell the putrid aroma of the former dead. A smell that would send grown men running for the hills in search of flowers to wash the scent out of their nostrils.

As the weeks went by Toffee got stronger to the point where he could begin to reshape himself. But whenever he made an arm or a head, it would fall apart instantly. He wasn't complete. There was something missing. And until he could find that missing element, he would be trapped in darkness for eternity.

Luckily he didn't have to wait that long.

The castle had begun to quake. Each punch and vibration made by Meteora and Star's fight sent ripples in the puddle. Then a shout came before a gold wave of energy bubbled outward from the top of the ruins of the castle and washed over every nook and cranny of the kingdom. Even reaching the dark depths of the dungeon where it froze the movements of the Tar.

He was complete now. But he would not be able to move for some time. In the months following the reconstruction of the Butterfly kingdom, Toffee was able to test out his new regeneration. The first thing to come together was a finger. Followed by a hand and a torso. A few weeks would pass before he could grow eyes, a baby snout, and a tail. Soon he was complete. Nearly. His face was still in the process of coming together. And so was his mind.

Toffee still had the cunning mind he was infamous for. But there was a new found craze in there. Septarians were known for their regeneration. But it was far from perfect. Especially when it came to regenerating their mind. It would leave their psyche incomplete and in some cases completely different.

"I have a job to do," Toffee's eyes narrowed as he brushed his suit and left the room he once called a prison.


End file.
